The National Treasury provided various types of support to municipalities for the implementation of mSCOA. The following initiatives were undertaken in preparation of the affected environment, with a specific focus on the Gauteng province:
1. After promulgation of the mSCOA Regulations, the mSCOA chart was rigorously tested and refined by piloting in selected municipalities. Gauteng pilot municipalities were Cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
2. A dedicated website was established to assist municipalities in understanding, educating and implementation of mSCOA, including information such as the project summary document, chart versions, Municipal SCOA circulars, presentations, etc:
3. The mSCOA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Portal was established, an internet based database tool for logging and responding to mSCOA related queries in March 2015 and is available to all municipalities.
4. Ongoing technical guidance and support to municipalities in the form of Circulars:
5. All the circulars were extensively consulted and also published on the National Treasury website.
6. The Transversal Tender: Local Government Financial Management and Internal Control Systems (RT25-2016 in the Government Tender Bulletin of 4 March 2016) was issued to support all municipalities that decided to make any system change(s) and / or upgrade(s).
7. Support provided through various mSCOA National and provincial forums, including mSCOA work groups, vendor forum(s) / platforms and a National Integrated Communication Forum involving the Gauteng Provincial Treasury and Gauteng pilot municipalities. These sessions were duplicated by the Gauteng Provincial Treasury in mSCOA, CFO and other relevant provincial forums.
8. Provided training across the affected environment, which included:
(a) & (b) The current status of implementation in Gauteng can be summarised as follows:
(i) All Gauteng municipalities successfully submitted both their tabled and adopted budgets in the mSCOA data string to the Local Government Database hosted by the National Treasury;
(ii) 3 of the 11 Gauteng municipalities (City of Johanesburg, Ekurhuleni and Midvaal) successfully submitted MFMA section 71 reports in the mSCOA data strings;
(iii) 5 of the 11 Gauteng municipalities (City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Emfuleni, Rand West City and Sedibeng) successfully submitted their integrated development plans in the mSCOA data string format;
(iv) The recent mSCOA transaction verification assessments conducted by the National Treasury and Gauteng Provincial Treasury on whether municipalities are transacting across selected test areas refers. Verification was completed for 7 municipalities, none of the verified municipalities in Gauteng is transacting across all the 8 selected test areas. The verified municipalities are partially transacting across some test areas. Each municipality not fully transacting across the 8 areas assessed, National Treasury and Gauteng Treasury are engaging all affected municipalities individually on their project plan to reach full transacting together with concurrent hands-on-support.